A Chicago native, Lena is a violinist, violist and a multi-faceted performer based in New York City. Lena holds a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Northwestern University and Master’s in contemporary violin performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a recipient of the President’s Award in the studio of Curtis Macomber. Lena’s education also includes studies with Alexis Galpérine at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris and Université de Paris 8 – Vincennes-St Denis.

 

As a performer, Lena is able to move fluidly between the worlds of orchestral music, rock, jazz, improvisation, musical theater, and new music. Lena has performed with groups such as Talea Ensemble, Contemporaneous, and Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra, and was a member of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Academy. She also performs in musical theater, including Single Rider (Off-Broadway), the New York Music Festival run of Generation Me, and the concert debut of M-Cubed at the Craterian Theater (Medford, OR). Lena is a member of earspace, a Raleigh-based ensemble creating multi-sensory performances, and is co-artistic director of Amalgama, a New York septet dedicated to the synthesis of improvisation and contemporary classical music.

 

A committed advocate of new music, Lena has worked with composers including Zosha Di Castri, Nina C. Young, Reiko Füting, and Esa-Pekka Salonen among others. Lena has participated in established festivals such as Bang on a Can, the Meadowmount School of Music, and the Orford Festival Academy and has performed in concerts across the U.S. and internationally in venues such as the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), National Sawdust (New York), and Orchestra Hall (Chicago). Lena is a substitute member of Symphony in C and was an associate member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.  Lena has also worked with many esteemed conductors including Riccardo Muti, Heinz Holliger, Alan Pierson, Jeffrey Milarsky, and Matthias Pintscher.

 

Lena is a dedicated educator. Her teaching style focuses on creating a custom lesson plan based on the goals and interests of each student, combined with a solid technical and listening skills. Lena’s teaching is also heavily informed by her training in the Alexander Technique, which she uses to help each student find the ease and comfort that facilitate joyful music-making.